November 15th, 2010 
judowolf 
Every time I write a blog post, send an e-mail, or leave a comment I remember an incident in the late seventies, when I worked as a social worker in a small community hospital and performed an act of kindness, which turned into a nightmare.
An elderly woman came into the emergency room via ambulance after falling at home. She did not require acute medical care making her ineligible for admission, and became my responsibility. She was alert, had no relatives residing in the area, it was late at night; she was having trouble walking and was afraid to go home alone. I could not reach her relatives and the local nursing homes and assisted living facilities had no available beds.
I contacted a woman who took in boarders, had an empty room, and would take her for the night. I took her there, returned to the hospital, and wrote in precise detail everything in her medical record. In the middle of the night, the woman returned to the hospital after suffering a heart attack, and died three days later. Six weeks later, the hospital CEO called me to his office and told me the woman’s relatives were suing the hospital and me for the untimely death of the woman.
The hospital attorney assisted me with my deposition, and the case went to trial. On the witness stand, the prosecuting attorney read verbatim the note I wrote in the patients chart, and the hospital lost the case. I never forgot the feeling of helplessness answering the questions, never having a chance to defend my actions, even though I did the right thing.
When writing reports, Social work school emphasized details, being nonjudgmental, not diagnosing, and never leave anything out. The trial taught me to protect my buttocks, leave details out, and to be cautious when writing in patient’s charts.
Today, everyone is writing blogs, sending e-mails; on Facebook saying, whatever they want never thinking about the consequences. Take a lesson from my experience and be careful, for someday it could come back and bite you in the ass.
Has something you have written ever come back to haunt you? I would love to hear your story.
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Like your writing! Still you can do some things to improve it.